Greenhouses

Welcome to the first in a new series of guest posts! We will be having gardeners from all over the country tell us about their gardening experiences. Our first guest blogger is Peter.

After that warm March we had, everything seems to have ground to a halt. I have picked out quite a few of the bedding plants to put into the greenhouse, which is now pretty full. I must clear the other bench of some of the stuff – pots, seed trays, etc. – that has accumulated. I have a good size cold frame, and the bedding plants that I have put there seem to be doing as well as the ones in the greenhouse, so I guess I can put more in there. My greenhouse is unheated, excepted for a thermostatically controlled electric heater that is set very low against frost. It never comes on when I am in there, so hopefully it does not cost too much.

On the vegetable front, the leeks in the seed bed outside are just appearing, but the spinach beet and turnips are noticeable for their absence. Perhaps the seed was too old, but last year it seemed crazy to plan to grow 1500 turnips, so I had quite a lot of seed left over – still do, so there’s a chance for another sowing.

Spent some time digging out some of those perennials that people have given us that get infested with weeds to give space for the bedding plants. Geraniums are one culprit (not the pelargonium geraniums).
Must cut some more hazel for the climbing French bean, grown for the first time last year with great success. So much more productive than dwarf French beans, easier to pick and out of reach of the slugs! Must cut the hazel this weekend before it comes into leaf. Too much to do, not enough time!

My name is Gill and I work for Primrose customer service and I am passionate about gardening. I have, over the last couple of years, started growing vegetables. I love my greenhouse as I can sow seed much earlier than outside in the veggie patch and so have a much longer growing season.

I am about to purchase a new greenhouse this year as I really need a larger one now. Last year I grew so many tomatoes, peppers and chillies that I ran out of space.

Now that the weather seems to be warming up, I thought it was time to sow my tomato and chilli seeds. I sowed six pots of different varieties at the weekend and have them in the greenhouse in a propagator. I keep the greenhouse heated at night with a paraffin heater. I also sowed lettuce and rocket which I will plant out in the greenhouse border .